Jacqui Brewster Lecturer, University of Sheffield, Department of Mental Health and Learning Disability

Anger is a natural emotion but it can be classified as ‘challenging behaviour’ among people with learning disabilities who may not have learned to express their feelings in a constructive way. Jacqui Brewster and Ada Montgomery describe how a group of clients benefited from learning about anger management strategies

We help to run a staff education programme for the management of violence and aggression in the learning disability services at Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust. In the session, we encourage staff to think about the things in life that ‘drive them crazy’ and how they manage their own angry feelings. We encourage staff to empathise with the experience of people with learning disabilities who may also get ‘wound up’ about life’s hassles but have fewer coping strategies to deal with them.